The Allied Health Professions Council has said the self-styled physiotherapist “Dr Jonathan Ohene Nkunim, who has been arrested for using his facility as bait to sexually assault scores of women, has committed a number of offences."

In a statement signed by the Registrar of the Council, Dr Samuel Yaw Opoku, the council said Jonathan Nkunim violated section 21 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies  (HPRB) Act, 2013 (act 857).

The Council stressed that the practices of Jonathan Ohene Nkunim run contrary to their laid down rules.

The Allied Health Professions Council’s statement is in reaction to The Fourth Estate investigations by Manasseh Azure Awuni, who uncovered the illegal activities at Jonathan Ohene Nkunim’s Nature’s Hand Therapeutic Centre.

“Unequivocally, we wish to state that the said “Dr.” Jonathan Ohene Nkunim is not licensed to practise as a physiotherapist. We further wish to state that the activities of Jonathan Ohene Nkunim as captured in the publication are in clear violation of Section 21(b, c, f &j) of the HPRB Act, 2013 (Act 857; Part One)”, part of the statement read.

Section 21 of Act 857 states the offences that are associated with Allied Health Professions. According to the Act, a person commits an offence if they:

“(a) makes a false declaration in an application for registration as a practitioner; (b) willfully and falsely uses a name, title or an addition implying a qualification to practice as an allied health professional; (c) practices or professes to practice as an allied health professional without prior registration; (d) fails to renew registration and continues to practice; (e) provides unauthorised service in a licenced facility; (f) provides service in an unlicenced facility; (g) fails to conform to practice standards of the allied health profession; (j) engages unqualified persons to practice;…”

The act stipulates that a person who commits any of the offences “is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than five hundred penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than two years or to both…”

The Allied Health Professions Council said it “is collaborating with the law enforcement agencies to take the appropriate actions permissible under the law against “Dr” Jonathan Ohene Nkunim.”

The Ghana Physiotherapy Association last week said “the practices of Jonathan Ohene Nkunim are against the ethics of our profession”, and “neither is he a registered member of the Ghana Physiotherapy Association.”

The services provided at Nature’s Hand Therapeutic Centre, as stated on Mr. Ohene Nkunim’s card, are General Diagnosis, Neuromuscular Therapy, Physio Therapy, detoxification, and Spine Straightening.

When The Fourth Estate confronted him, he confessed he had no training in medicine or physiotherapy as he claimed. He also confessed he had not worked at the Physiotherapy Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital as he had claimed.

Background

In an investigation that lasted over a year, The Fourth Estate spoke to women who had been sexually assaulted at Ohene Nkunim’s Nature’s Hand Therapeutic Centre.

“Dr” Jonathan Ohene Nkunim’s victims included a couple who had gone to Nature’s Hand Therapeutic Centre, Gbawe, Accra in 2018 to seek his help to be able to conceive. He ended up sleeping with the woman. Feeling guilty about the affair, she confessed to her husband and that was how the seven-year-old marriage ended.

A young woman was on the verge of suicide because the heart-wrenching pain from her spinal cord convinced her that ending her life was a better option. Someone offered her a lifeline, Jonathan Ohene Nkunim’s hotline.

Ohene Nkunim raped her the first day she entered the facility in pain and lay on the massage bed.

He left incriminating evidence in his WhatsApp conversation with her after the ordeal. He admitted he did not seek her permission before having sex with her.

Nkunim claimed the procedure he wanted to perform required sexual arousal. He said he should have “sensitised” her before proceeding.  Nkunim then apologised profusely. But he did not stop.

The next time she visited, he had sex with her. It happened until she left for another facility to continue the treatment.

He was arrested following The Fourth Estates publication.

On the day of his arrest, Nkunim said three months earlier, he had taken steps to deal with his sexual desires and was now in control.

The Fourth Estate’s sources at the police say he did not deny the allegations leveled against him when the police interrogated him. When he was asked how many women he had violated, he reportedly said he had lost count.

On Tuesday, September 28, 2021, Jonathan Ohene Nkunim was charged with rape when he made his first appearance in court.

He was denied bail and is due to reappear at the Kaneshie District Court, near the Ministry of Information, on October 12, 2021.